Machine for making nails



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIGE.

CYRUS HENRY MERRICK, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

MACHlNE FOR MAKING NAILS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 49,906, dated September 12, i865.

To all 'whom it may concern: vers, ol representing the gage (fastened in front Be it known that I, GYRUs HENRY MER- of the cutter and moving with it) on which the RICK, of Pittsburg, county of Allegheny, and plate rests when insertedlinto the cutters, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new s a stop, whose oline will be apparenthereafter. and Improved Machine for Manufacturing Gut- Fig. 5 is an end view of the levers F and F', Nails, which is automatic in its operation and lin which it will be seen that the cutters It and has a perfect and continuous feed, each plate 1lb are not placed with their cutting-edges in a y being cut entirely into nails and followed by fhorizontal position, but have a bevel or inclianother plate without interval, the only assistlnation, and in Fig. 4 it is shown that the staauce required from the attendant being the vitionary cutters h and h have a corresponding insertion of the end of each nail-pl ate into the bevel, the design of this being to give to the feeding apparatus of the machine, which can nail the desired taper or bevel. be done without checking its speed. By examining and comparing` Figs. 3 and 6 The following is a description of my invenit will be seen that the revolution of the shaft tion for the benefit of those skilled in the art, D and the consequent action of the cam f upon reference being made to the accompanying the lever F communicates to the cutter 71. a drawings, which make part of this speciticahorizont-al forward stroke underneath the station, and to the letters of reference marked tionary cutter, thus bringing into action the thereon, similar letters indicating the saine `cuttin g apparatus ot' the machine, and that parts of the machine wherever they occur in the saine movement closes the dies7 which are the drawings. grooved or scored on their faces as in the ordi- Figure l is a top or plan view; Fig. 2, a nary machine, thus forming the gripe. front elevation Fig. 3, a longitudinal vertical I and I are the heading-punches, attached to section; and Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, S, and 9, views of the frame by the springs k 7c or by a hingedifferent detached portions of the machine, joint and arm. They receive their stroke from which will be referred to and described herethe levers Gand C ,with which their outer ends inafter. arein contact. The levers O and C are pivoted A is the frame of the machine, which may t0 the surface ofthe frame at i' i, and, extendbe of any requisite size or form, and D a reing back to the driving-shaft, are operated by volving (driving) shaft crossing the frame near the side face-cams, a and a. These cams being its rear end. also on opposite sides of the shaft, and the F and F' are two levers, alike in forrn and rear ends of the levers C and C' connected by size, placed side by side within the frame, and the cross-bar b, it follows that they communi` pivoted on a common journal or bearing, B, vcate motion to the heading-punches I and I which extends across the machine near its alternately. front end. The rear ends of these levers rest E is the feeding-head, having through it verupon the driving-shaft and are operated by tically an opening of sufficient size to permit cams upon it, one to each lever. These cams free passage to the nail-plate. This opening are ofthe form shown at f, Fig. 3, and, being (represented by the dotted lines) is directly on opposite sides of the shaft, operate the le- -bove the openings of the cutters. E rests on vers alternately. To the upper surface and the frame e e, and slides back and forth from front end of each lever is attached a cutter, one to the other set of cutters, the motion be h' h', and underneath each cutter a die. ing derived from the heading-levers C andG' To the head-block G, and directly opposite through the lever C, which, extending' back h' h', are attached complementary cutters h 7i, from E, is pivoted to the frame of the machine and underneath each of these cutters is also a at d and also to the cross-bar b. v die. The relative position of the cutters and In Figs'. 7 and 10 are s een the spring-nip dies is shown in Fig. 6, h and a representing pers which convey the blanks from the critters the stationary cutters and dies, which are atto the heading-dies an', Figs. 4,5, and 6. One tached to the head-block, and h and a the limb of the pinchers p is made thin andiiexiworking cutters and dies attached to the leble, as shown at p", Flgs. 7 and 10,: and has end a flange or lip, pt, with a corresponding flange or lip, p, on the rigid arm or limb, for the purpose of seizing and holding the blank t, Fig. l0, while being carried to the heading-dies. The rigid arm or limb of the pinchers has a recess, l, on one edge, as seen in Fig. 7, at its lower end, which permits a projecting point, r', attached to the attached to its lower front end of the levers F and F directly below I the blades hf, (see Fig. 5,) to project past the rigid arm, and pressing against the elastic arm p", opposite to the lip pi', thus forcing the pinchers open as the cutters advance, ready to receive the blank that has been cut at the previous movement of the cutters. IThegraspingpoint of the nippers is at the upper edge of the lips or jaws p p*. It will be seen that the flanges or lips p* p (jaws) of the nippers, of which there are two pairs, one to each set of cutters, project under the inner end of each stationary cutter and in a line parallel to their cutting-edges, and that they have a vertical movement, sliding in recesses in each side of the block y, which bridges or fills the space between the stationary cutters. Their movements are alternate, one rising as the other is depressed, and are caused by the vibration of the feeding-head E through a contrivance shown in Fig. 2, from which it will be seen that the nippers are connected at their upper ends with the arms 1*, pivoted at z. These arms are held up by springs against the lower or short arms of a rocking frame, o, which, in its turn, is pivoted to a standard rising from G, directly in front of E. The studs at, which project from the front of E, striking the upper or long arms of 0, rock or oscillate it, and thus raise and depress the nippers as E vibrates. The nippers are opened and the nail released from their grasp by the point r', Fig. 3, which, coming forward with the cutters and dies, passes the rigid limb of the nippers through the recess l, Fig. 7, and strikes their flexible limb.

Fig. 8 is a detached and enlarged view of the stud a* inserted into the feeding-head E upon each side about half-way from the bottom to the top, as shown in Fig. 2. This stud, as the feeding-head moves from one cutter to the other, is brought into contact with the arms o, depressing one pair of nippers and at the same time elevating the other pair. By adjusting the eccentric head of this stud, which is secured in any desired position by a screw-nut, the degree or distance through which the nippers rise and fall is governed. They can thus be caused to carry the nail-blank to the exact position for forming the head.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged'view of the lower end of thefeeder-head E, which is furnished at each lower corner with a movable block or sweeper, m m. These pieces have a free vertical movement in the feeder-head E, and are kept pressed down upon the upper face ofthe movable cutters and the bridge y, that spans the space between the stationary cutters, with a constant or splinter, even to and uniform pressure by means of the springs m' m', thus being brought in constant contact with the surfaces above named as the feedinghead E vibrates, and sweeping off any scale the last fragment of the nail-plate, and thereby insuring a uniform and continuous feed.

The operation of the machine is as follows: The feeding-head E being over one set of cutters andthe nippers belonging to that set depressed by the action of the stud a* upon the rocking-frame o, a nail-plate is inserted, and, descending by its own weight into the cutters, rests upon the gage o. The machine being set in motion, the revolution of the shaft causes the cam f to act upon the lever F, gives stroke to the cutter It', and, cutting from the plate a piece or blank suitable for a nail, carries it forward to a position directly above the nippers, where it is held by the stop s. The same movement which closes the cutters also closes the dies, and, bringing the point r forward against the flexible limb The cam a now strikes the lever C, moves it horizontally, and through it gives stroke to the punch I, but in this instance without efect, no blank having as yet passed into the dies or gripe, and also shifts the feeding-head E to the other set of cutters. This vibration of E oscillates o and elevates the nippers (still held open by the pressure of the point r on their elastic limb, which slides on r as they rise) until they reach and inclose the blank. The action of cam f, which has continued to this time, now ceases, the cutters and dies open, the nippers, relieved from the pressure of the point r', close by their own elasticity, grasping the blank and holding it suspended in a horizontal position, the gage o having been removed from beneath it by the same movement that opened the cutters, dto. The continuing revolution of the shaft now brings the levers F and C' into play, a second nail is cut in reverse bevel to the first, and the feeding-head returned to point from whence it started. As it returns it again oscillates the tumbler o, depressing the nippers and blank to the line of the dies. The second revolution of the shaft now brings the lever F a second time into action, a third blank is cut similar to the first, but in reverse bevel to the second, and the first is released from the nippers and grasped rmly by the dies, which hold the cam a, operating through the lever O, again giving stroke to theheadingpunch, forcing it against the outer end of the blank thus held,forming the head and completing the nail, and also again vibrating the feeding-head to the other set of cutters, where the fourth nail is cut and the second finished, and so on continuously, each finished nail dropping into a receptacle beneath the machine as the dies open to receive the one next succeeding.v The nail-plate feeding by its own weight, it will be readily perceived that as it is shortened by cutting from its lower end another may of the nippers, opens them.

The combination of devices by which this is effected, substantially as herein described and set forth.

GYRUS HENRY MERRICK.

Witnesses: I

J LEONARD, A. W. MCGLELLAN. 

